Vietnam records US$2.45 bil trade surplus in 8 months
Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$2.45 billion in the first eight months of this year, a report from General Statistics Office (GSO) has revealed.
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The eight-month trade surplus was totally contributed by the foreign-invested sector, which posted an export surplus of US$15.18 billion, while the domestic sector witnessed a deficit of US$12.73 billion, Le Thi Minh Thuy, head of GSO, said.
The country’s trade revenue topped US$221.93 billion in the period. Of the sum, exports contributed US$112.19 billion, surging 5.5% against same period last year.
The above-mentioned growth was, however, equal to two thirds of the target set earlier by the State, Thuy said.
Export revenue of the domestic sector reached US$32.62 billion, up 4% year-on-year, while that of the foreign-invested sector stood at US$79.57 billion, up 6.1% year-on-year.
Among the key export items witnessing significant turnover increases were mobile phones and components (US$22.3 billion, up 11%), garments and textiles (US$15.5 billion, up 4.2%), electronics, computers and parts (US$11.1 billion, up 11.2%) and footwear (US$8.6 billion, up 8.1%).
Meanwhile, several other products witnessed export revenue reductions, including crude oil (some US$1.5 billion, down 46.2%), rice (US$1.5 billion, down 14%), rubber (US$887 million, down 4%) and cassava (US$698 million, down 26%).
The US remained the largest importer of Vietnamese goods with revenue of US$24.6 billion. It was followed by the EU with US$21.9 billion, China with US$12.6 billion, Japan with US$9.3 billion and the Republic of Korea with US$7 billion, GSO said.
From January to August, the country’s imports saw a yearly modest decline of 0.3% to US$109.74 billion. Imports of the foreign-invested sector plunged by 1% to US$64.39 billion, while that of the domestic sector experienced a slight increase of 0.5% to US$45.35 billion.
Import items that recorded revenue reductions included machines, tools and spare parts (US$17.7, down 4.2%), materials for garments, textiles and footwear (US$3.4 billion, down 0.3%), animal feed (US$2.1 billion, down 6%), wood and wooden goods (US$1.1 billion, down 21%) and fertilizers (US$748 million, down 18.6%).
Despite a yearly decline of 3% in turnover, China continued to be the leading import market for Vietnam. During the reviewed period, Vietnam spent US$31.6 billion on importing goods from this neighboring country, equivalent to one third of Vietnam’s total import turnover.
